The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recently released its annual report ranking member nation's commitments to increase efforts in cybersecurity "in order to drive further efforts in the adoption and integration of cybersecurity on a global scale."

Participants are rated against five pillars:

Legal: Measured based on the existence of legal institutions and frameworks dealing with cybersecurity and cybercrime.

Technical: Measured based on the existence of technical institutions and frameworks dealing with cybersecurity.

Organizational: Measured based on the existence of policy coordination institutions and strategies for cybersecurity development at the national level.

Capacity Building: Measured based on the existence of research and development, education and training programs; certified professionals and public sector agencies fostering capacity building.

Cooperation: Measured based on the existence of partnerships, cooperative frameworks and information sharing networks.

"Out of the 193 Member States, there is a huge range in cybersecurity commitments, as the heat map [above] illustrates. Level of commitment: from Green (highest) to Red (lowest)."

Conclusions from the Report

"Cybersecurity is an increasingly important part of our life today, and the degree of interconnectivity of networks implies that anything and everything can be exposed, and everything from national critical infrastructure to our basic human rights can be compromised. Governments are therefore urged to consider policies that support continued growth in technology sophistication, access and security, and as a crucial first step, to adopt a national cybersecurity strategy.

However, the research also revealed that while increased Internet access and more mature technological development is correlated with improvement in cybersecurity at the global level, this is not necessarily true for countries with developing economies and lower levels of technological development. The data collection shows that developing countries lack well-trained cybersecurity experts as well as a thorough appreciation and the necessary education on cybersecurity issues for law enforcement, and continued challenges in the judiciary and legislative branches. There is a need for the developed world to help train local experts in cybersecurity, and more cooperation should be initiated between developed and developing countries to assist them in cybersecurity development."